Nowadays a communication network comprises a variety of different devices and techniques. There are several generations of networks like 2G, 3G and 4G, which are under use in mobile communication networks. Since the techniques of said generations are different, the communication network, which a user experiences, can actually be one of said generations or even a combination of them. In addition, different network generations may be connected with each other. Each network technique requires specific devices so the mobile communication network has a great number of different devices and management systems.
Network operators have a great collection of different device types, including routers, firewalls, session border controllers, switches, aggregators, VPN gateways, and a variety of other device types. These devices are constantly being developed and acquired, so equipment rapidly becomes obsolete and should be replaced. The launch of new services often demands network reconfiguration and on-site installation of new equipment which in turn requires additional space and power. Further maintenance staff must be trained to take care of the new devices. In addition some devices may spend plenty of time unused, so the network can have unused capacity, which is not utilized efficiently due to a great variety of the network devices and techniques.
Further, network functions can be virtualized in order to be processed on normal servers, like x86 servers. The network function virtualization (NFV) makes it possible to replace traditional network devices with software that exists on servers. This software performs the network functions previously provided by dedicated hardware. The combination of a server and software can replace a wide range of network devices, from switches and routers to firewalls and VPN (virtual private network) gateways. These new solutions may run on physical servers, virtual machines controlled by hypervisors hosted by appropriate hardware (e.g. server) or a combination of them. As can be noted, it is very challenging to allocated resources of a modern communication network.